World Women Boxing Championships: Kenya's Lorna Kusa eliminated

Africa Zone Three light middleweight silver medallist Lorna Kusa [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Africa Zone Three light middleweight silver medallist Lorna Kusa became the first Kenyan boxer to exit the World Women Boxing Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday night.

Kusa lost to Valentina Khalzova of Kazakhstan when the referee stopped the contest (RSC) in the first round.

It was a sad start for the female boxer at the global championships following Kusa’s defeat but to coach Musa Benjamin, it was a perfect and learning forum to weigh the effectiveness of his players at continental and global level.

”Winning and losing is part of the game. Therefore, this gives us (the technical bench) a chance to evaluate the pro and cons of our work ahead of future assessments,” Benjamin said.

Kusa proved no match for Khalzova as the Kazakhstani took charge of the fight from the word go and never looked back, her accurate jabs giving the Kenyan a tough night.

Kusa struggled to find the range, hardly landing any meaningful jab on her opponent.

And with that defeat, Kusa was the first experienced Kenyan boxer to kiss goodbye the global championships after a similar performance in her debut in Barbados, in 2010.

As Kusa was meditating on her defeat, the Kenyan camp was equally celebrating the qualification of Africa Zone Three light heavyweight gold medallist Elizabeth Andiego into the quarterfinals of the same tournament.

Andiego was lucky to have been among the three African boxers who received byes in their pre-quarterfinal bouts.

The other two are Lisa Kanjinga of Democratic Republic of Congo and Morocco's Khadija Mardi, in the heavyweight division.

Andiego will meet the winner between Turkey's Elif Geenari and Mkatelo Sithole of South Africa, on Monday next week.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games flyweight bronze medallist Christine Ongare was scheduled to take the ring last night against Hannah Okhota of Ukraine in the minimum weight (45-48kg).